Lies, lies, lies: Sef Gonzales admits telling 20 of them

Sef Gonzales has admitted he told a succession of lies to police, family and friends on the night his family was murdered in their North Ryde home and up until at least six months later.

Now though, he says he is telling the truth. Under cross-examination yesterday by the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, Gonzales faced 15 minutes of relentless questions, with one repeated over and over: "That was a lie wasn't it?", "That was a lie wasn't it?", "That was a lie wasn't it?"

To which Gonzales continued to reply: "Yes, sir."

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Earlier, there was a loud unlocking of the latch of the door of the dock as the defence barrister, Winston Terracini, SC, announced he would call the accused. After five weeks of allegations against him, Gonzales walked slowly forward to the witness box to give evidence for the first time.

He held his hand to the centre of his grey suit and swore on the Bible, blinking heavily.

Were you anxious to assist the police as much as you could to help locate those responsible for the deaths of your family? - Very much, sir.

Mr Tedeschi's voice rose.

"And yet you remained sufficiently composed, did you not, to tell police a litany of lies about your movements from 4pm-8pm on the night of the deaths of your family?"

"I was not composed, sir, I was panicking."

His aunt, uncle and cousin sat in the back row of the full public gallery as Gonzales was questioned by his own counsel about what he did on the afternoon of July 10, 2001.

He told of heating up home-made spaghetti for lunch then attending his father's law practice in Blacktown to fix a computer. He drove home and parked his car in the car port but did not go inside, instead taking a taxi to Chatswood.

"From the station I walked to a brothel in McIntosh Street," he said. "'I waited for a period of time, I'm not sure how long . . . some girls were introduced . . . and I selected one girl, and she took me to a room."

But at the climax of the cross-examination, Mr Tedeschi put it to Gonzales that he had lied unhesitatingly and to protect himself.

"I suggest to you that there were 20 lies that you told the police on the night your parents were killed . . . you agree they were all lies?"

Gonzales said he agreed they were lies but said they were all regarding the same thing. He had felt pressured by police to give a lot of detail, and was embarrassed that he was in a brothel when his family was murdered.

"You tell the court, do you, that you're telling the truth now?" Mr Tedeschi then asked.

"Yes, sir," Gonzales replied.

He is expected to be the only witness called by the defence.

Mr Terracini asked the jury not to damn Gonzales in a case as great as this simply because he had an attitude of exaggeration and that he used prostitutes. That did not mean he killed his father Teddy, mother Mary Loiva and sister Clodine, he said.